So it's been a little while since we had a beer thread going on here. What beers are people enjoying at the moment? For that matter, what booze are you enjoying in general?

Me, I'm trying to wean myself off of relentlessly hoppy IPAs at the moment, because that seems to be all I ever drink. And, hey, that's not a bad thing in itself, but it does mean that I've started to enjoy anything that's not massively hoppy a little less. That said - hops are amazing! God's own plants! A really neat craft beer bar has appeared but a short walk from my house, and they always stock a couple the of Mikkeller single hop IPAs. In particular, I've been really enjoying their Sorachi Ace version of late - it's got a kind of vinious quality to it that I really like. It also goes well blended with the Bravo version, which is a lot lighter and almost sherberty. But yeah, the upshot is that I need to take a holiday from super hoppy beers and try something else. So any recommendations on that front are most welcome. Dark, unctous stouts are most welcome.

Also, I want to educate myself on how beer is brewed, because my knowledge of that process is rudimentary at best. Living arrangements dictate that home brewing my own is off limits, but any good book/site/video recommendations are also very welcome.

Anyway, sorry for the rambling OP, but I figure I'm allowed to ramble given the context. Bottoms up, Whitechapel.

Books:The Naked Pint by Christina Perozzi & Hallie Beaune (One of the first beer books I read. Very easy to follow along and covers many many things from beginner's stuff to the more complex)Extreme Brewing: An Enthusiast's Guide to Brewing Beer at Home by Sam Calagione (Owner of Dogfish Head) (Shows the basics to brewing and provides some great recipes)Tasting Beer: An Insider's Guide to the World's Greatest Drink by Randy Mosher (Another good guide about beer. Covers beer tastings, pairing and other awesome things)

As for homebrewing, really if you have room for a five gallon bucket it should be no problem. If not there are plenty of places that cater to one gallon brews as well. And depending on where you live, some homebrew stores let you brew and store your fermenting beer there! What part of the workd do you live in again, curb?

As for hops I am, and always will be, a sucker for Cascade. Come spring I'm hoping to grab a cascade rhizome and grow my own at home.

Most recent beers I've sampled. All excellent beers, the hopping hare as it's name suggests is very hoppy. The Snakebite is odd. Very odd? It's a crafted pale ale infused with cider apples. What it actually is is unpleasant. The taste doesn't work at all. A shame as Wychwood produce some very good beers http://www.wychwood.co.uk/#/home//hobgoblin/home

ive gotten totally boring. my theory is that since i drink less than i used to, i generally stick to the basics since i know what im getting. my current routine on days where i drink is a to drink a mule (ginger ale, lime juice, wild turkey 101 proof) then i use the leftover ginger ale to have a Becks shandy. i find cutting the becks w ginger lets me feel like im having two beers, when in reality its the same amount of alcohol just split into two drinks

when i want somehting rich i stick with Old Chub. its like motor oil. delicious, 8% motor oil.

Thanks Robin, I knew that you'd deliver the goods! The Naked Pint is going on my reading list for sure. The lack of homebrewing isn't down to space or facilities sadly, so much as my girlfriend's unshakeable belief that I will a)blow something up, b) make the house smell of beer for all eternity, or c) blow my liver up and smell of beer for all eternity. On points a and b I know she's wrong, but I can't change her mind. The in-store brewing on the other hand? That's a definate possibility. I'm in Brighton UK, so if you happen to know of anywhere round here then do please let me know. Good luck with growing your own hops by the way. I'll definately have to look out for a pure Cascade beer, I'm sure I've seen one around. Enjoying the blog by the way, you've made me try to have the discipline to age a couple of bottles. No idea whether my willpower will hold out, though.

Steve, the Snakebite sounds ... interesting. I tried a beer flavoured the same way a while ago, and it too was pretty unpleasent. I suspect mostly because the brewer had just dropped some artificial apple flavouring into a pint of generic bitter.

Joe - Old Chub looks good - I'm going to have to keep an eye out for that. I know that you shouldn't judge a beer by its ABV, but 8% sounds good too. On a similar note, if you get the chance to try a Dogma by Brewdog, then do. It also purports to be a Scotch Ale, and I have no idea what makes a beer so, but it's good. Nice and rich, with a decent malty sweetness to it.

Naked Pint is a really good book. I've been rereading some of it recently and I'm still learning stuff from it. Shame that you're girlfriend won't change her mind, but I suppose that's how it goes! I'll try and find a place that you can maybe brew from in your area Hmm...

And yes! Cellaring! Lots and lots of willpower is involved. The only reason I'm doing so well at it is because my cellar is at the cottage which I visit maybe about once every two months or so. Have one or two special brews waiting for Christmas. :)

I sort of love Brewdog. When they're good, they're very very good and when they're bad they're at least drinkable. I haven't tried a lot of their newer stuff due to lack of access, but of the older ones I would heartily recommend:

Paradox x Isle of Arran - a beautiful stout matured in Isle of Arran whisky casks. Brainfuckingly tasty and weighing in at around 9% ABV (IIRC). I see they do a Paradox Jura now, which is definitely going on the list - I'm not a huge whisky drinker, and when I am I tend to go for Laphroaig, but I got a bottle of their Superstition as a gift and enjoyed it very much indeed.

Punk IPA - again, not a huge drinker of IPAs, but I used to enjoy a bottle or several of this on warm days.

Currently drinking Wychwood Brewery's King Goblin, which I think is a kind of special reserve Hobgoblin. Whatever it is, it is very tasty indeed.

On a non-beer note, there are two ciders I have been enjoying of late. The Westons Cider 2011 Vintage is gorgeous in ways I can't even begin to explain. On a slightly less classy note, I also very much enjoyed the Strongbow Pear. Strongbow apple cider generally tastes something like battery acid, but I actually quite enjoyed that sharpness in a pear cider. YMMV.

Sadly, I've not been able to try much of Brewdog. Have had both Punk and Hardcore IPAs and would love to regularly have Tokyo, but it's $25 at one bar here in Toronto so...that's out. Definitely want to try their one-offs, but that won't happen.

Ahh, Paradox. I can't remember which one I tried, one of the early ones is all I can remember, but it was delicious. Properly warming and medicinal. Tokyo on the other hand - I enjoyed it the first time I tried it, but the second time it was far too syrupy, and had a really overpowering fruitiness about it. I guess that might be to do with the relative age of the batches, so I guess you need to look out for an older bottle. Nil, if you're in the UK and can get to one of Brewdog's own bars, they sell you a shot of TNP or Sink the Bismark. Why I never took advantage of that fact when I visited one, I'll never know. That said, I was lucky to make it home as it was...

I've been enjoying the various uber-hopped IPAs this summer and am finally about to crack open my uber-hopped homebrew Yerba Mate infused IPA. Other than that, the old standbys - most anything by Stone Brewing and Dogfishhead with some Trader Joes varietals thrown in. I'm in wine country California so the beer selection is pretty small (good thing I like wine too).

Fred it's not a proper pub style snakebite (only surpassed by the near legendary Blastaway), more a beer with a strange apple aftertaste. Over the past few years been getting into cocktails. A friend has a very good cocktail bar and, with a crossover with another thread, is having a new year's party where the fancy dress code is come as a cocktail. But this is a fantastic resource and I really need to get some bitters to make whiskey sours

oldhat - Southern Tier makes a pumpkin beer? Fuck, now I really wish I could find their stuff around here. I tried their Creme Brule. Mokah, and Javah last time I was in the PDX/Seattle area and absolutely fell in love. Was hoping to find them locally to try their Krampus beer and hadn't realized they made pumpkin.